Genesis 3:14

3:14 The Lord God said to the serpent, ¹ 

“Because you have done this,

cursed ²  are you above all the wild beasts

and all the living creatures of the field!

On your belly you will crawl ³ 

and dust you will eat ⁴  all the days of your life.

Genesis 13:14

13:14 After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram, ⁵  “Look ⁶  from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west.

Genesis 20:7

20:7 But now give back the man’s wife. Indeed ⁷  he is a prophet ⁸  and he will pray for you; thus you will live. ⁹  But if you don’t give her back, ¹⁰  know that you will surely die ¹¹  along with all who belong to you.”

Genesis 21:26

21:26 “I do not know who has done this thing,” Abimelech replied. “Moreover, ¹²  you did not tell me. I did not hear about it until today.”

Genesis 22:12

22:12 “Do not harm the boy!” ¹³  the angel said. ¹⁴  “Do not do anything to him, for now I know ¹⁵  that you fear ¹⁶  God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”

Genesis 23:6

23:6 “Listen, sir, ¹⁷  you are a mighty prince ¹⁸  among us! You may bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb to prevent you ¹⁹  from burying your dead.”

Genesis 23:13

23:13 and said to Ephron in their hearing, “Hear me, if you will. I pay ²⁰  to you the price ²¹  of the field. Take it from me so that I may ²²  bury my dead there.”

Genesis 24:47

24:47 Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She replied, ‘The daughter of Bethuel the son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to Nahor.’ ²³  I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.

Genesis 28:13

28:13 and the Lord stood at its top. He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. ²⁴  I will give you and your descendants the ground ²⁵  you are lying on.

Genesis 31:43

31:43 Laban replied ²⁶  to Jacob, “These women ²⁷  are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, ²⁸  and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today ²⁹  or the children to whom they have given birth?

Genesis 31:52

31:52 “This pile of stones and the pillar are reminders that I will not pass beyond this pile to come to harm you and that you will not pass beyond this pile and this pillar to come to harm me. ³⁰ 

Genesis 39:9

39:9 There is no one greater in this household than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife. So how could I do ³¹  such a great evil and sin against God?”

Genesis 42:33

42:33 “Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘This is how I will find out if you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain ³²  for your hungry households and go.

Genesis 43:8

43:8 Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me and we will go immediately. ³³  Then we will live ³⁴  and not die – we and you and our little ones.

Genesis 44:17

44:17 But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do this! The man in whose hand the cup was found will become my slave, but the rest of ³⁵  you may go back ³⁶  to your father in peace.”

[3:14]  ¹ sn Note that God asks no question of the serpent, does not call for confession, as he did to the man and the woman; there is only the announcement of the curse. The order in this section is chiastic: The man is questioned, the woman is questioned, the serpent is cursed, sentence is passed on the woman, sentence is passed on the man.

[3:14]  ² tn The Hebrew word translated “cursed,” a passive participle from אָרָר (’arar), either means “punished” or “banished,” depending on how one interprets the following preposition. If the preposition is taken as comparative, then the idea is “cursed [i.e., punished] are you above [i.e., more than] all the wild beasts.” In this case the comparative preposition reflects the earlier comparison: The serpent was more shrewd than all others, and so more cursed than all others. If the preposition is taken as separative (see the note on the word “ground” in 4:11), then the idea is “cursed and banished from all the wild beasts.” In this case the serpent is condemned to isolation from all the other animals.

[3:14]  ³ tn Heb “go”; “walk,” but in English “crawl” or “slither” better describes a serpent’s movement.

[3:14]  ⁴ sn Dust you will eat. Being restricted to crawling on the ground would necessarily involve “eating dust,” although that is not the diet of the serpent. The idea of being brought low, of “eating dust” as it were, is a symbol of humiliation.

[13:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the Lord said to Abram after Lot separated himself from with him.” The disjunctive clause at the beginning of the verse signals a new scene.

[13:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “lift up your eyes and see.”

[20:7]  ⁹ tn Or “for,” if the particle is understood as causal (as many English translations do) rather than asseverative.

[20:7]  ¹⁰ sn For a discussion of the term prophet see N. Walker, “What is a Nabhi?” ZAW 73 (1961): 99-100.

[20:7]  ¹¹ tn After the preceding jussive (or imperfect), the imperative with vav conjunctive here indicates result.

[20:7]  ¹² tn Heb “if there is not you returning.” The suffix on the particle becomes the subject of the negated clause.

[20:7]  ¹³ tn The imperfect is preceded by the infinitive absolute to make the warning emphatic.

[21:26]  ¹³ tn Heb “and also.”

[22:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Do not extend your hand toward the boy.”

[22:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Do not extend…’”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the context for clarity. The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[22:12]  ¹⁹ sn For now I know. The test was designed to see if Abraham would be obedient (see v. 1).

[22:12]  ²⁰ sn In this context fear refers by metonymy to obedience that grows from faith.

[23:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “Hear us, my lord.”

[23:6]  ²² tn Heb “prince of God.” The divine name may be used here as a means of expressing the superlative, “mighty prince.” The word for “prince” probably means “tribal chief” here. See M. H. Gottstein, “Nasi’ ‘elohim (Gen 23:6),” VT 3 (1953) 298-99; and D. W. Thomas, “Consideration of Some Unusual Ways of Expressing the Superlative in Hebrew,” VT 3 (1953) 215-16.

[23:6]  ²³ tn The phrase “to prevent you” has been added in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[23:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “give.”

[23:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “silver.”

[23:13]  ²⁷ tn After the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction expresses purpose or result.

[24:47]  ²⁹ tn Heb “whom Milcah bore to him.” The referent (Nahor) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:13]  ³³ tn Heb “the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.” The Hebrew word for “father” can typically be used in a broader sense than the English word, in this case referring to Abraham (who was Jacob’s grandfather). For stylistic reasons and for clarity, the words “your father” are supplied with “Isaac” in the translation.

[28:13]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (’erets) can mean “[the] earth,” “land,” “region,” “piece of ground,” or “ground” depending on the context. Here the term specifically refers to the plot of ground on which Jacob was lying, but at the same time this stands by metonymy for the entire land of Canaan.

[31:43]  ³⁷ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[31:43]  ³⁸ tn Heb “daughters.”

[31:43]  ³⁹ tn Heb “children.”

[31:43]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “but to my daughters what can I do to these today?”

[31:52]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “This pile is a witness and the pillar is a witness, if I go past this pile to you and if you go past this pile and this pillar to me for harm.”

[39:9]  ⁴⁵ tn The nuance of potential imperfect fits this context.

[42:33]  ⁴⁹ tn The word “grain” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[43:8]  ⁵³ tn Heb “and we will rise up and we will go.” The first verb is adverbial and gives the expression the sense of “we will go immediately.”

[43:8]  ⁵⁴ tn After the preceding cohortatives, the prefixed verbal form (either imperfect or cohortative) with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or result.

[44:17]  ⁵⁷ tn The words “the rest of” have been supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[44:17]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “up” (reflecting directions from their point of view – “up” to Canaan; “down” to Egypt).